Electronic musical instruments played by means of a stylus



B. C. JARVIS Aug. 18, 1970 ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS PLAYED BY MEANS OF STYLUS Filed April 4. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet l Invenlor I B. C. .Imzws y ttorney;

Aug. 18, 1970 3, JARVIS ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS PLAYED BY MEANS OF A STYLUS Filed April 4, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 w M V m a 1% N fi M m 8 B m J 4 T KN 9 m M W Wm M w By m a l Al lorneys United States Patent 3,524,365 ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS PLAYED BY MEANS OF A STYLUS Brian C. Jarvis, Edgware, Middlesex, England, assignor to Moviecol Enterprises Limited, London, England, a British company Filed A r. 4, 1968, Ser. No. 718,883 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 11, 1967, 16,619/ 67 Int. Cl. Gh 1/00, N09

US. Cl. 841.01 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to electronic musical instruments and more particularly to an electronic organ.

According to the present invention, an electronic musical instrument comprises a plurality of contacts representing different musical notes and at least one note selecting contact member electrically connected to an electronic circuit of the instrument by a flexible lead and adapted to be movable in or by the hand of a person playing the instrument so as to be brought into engagement with any of the contacts, in order to cause the instrument audibly to reproduce the note represented by any contact which is so engaged by the contact member.

Preferably, the contacts are arranged in one or more rows or banks after the fashion of the keys of a keyboard. Conveniently the electronic circuitry of the instrument is enclosed in a casing which may have an aperture through which the contacts are accessible.

According to a feature of the invention, the contacts are formed as conducting areas on a printed circuit board which carries at least some of the components of the electronic circuits of the instrument.

According to a further feature of the invention, the note selecting contact member comprises a stylus having an electrically conducting tip which is electrically connected to a circuit of the instrument by the flexible lead.

Preferably, the instrument is battery operated and the electronic circuitry employs semiconductor devices such as transistors. The electronic circuitry comprises an audio frequency oscillator having a plurality of resistors or resistor networks respectively connected to the contacts and arranged so that the oscillator reproduces a note through a loudspeaker when a contact is engaged by the note selecting contact member to form a connection in the oscillator effective to cause the oscillator to oscillate. One or more amplifier stages may be provided between the oscillator and the loudspeaker.

According to a further feature of the invention, the instrument may also include a further circuit, such as a phase shift oscillator, which can be selectively switched into operation to give a vibrato or tremulous effect to any of the notes being reproduced by the instrument.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1, is a perspective view of one embodiment of electronic organ according to this invention, and

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram.

Referring to FIG. 1, the instrument comprises a casing 1 having an aperture 2 providing access to two rows of fixed contacts 3 and 4, forming the keyboard of the instrument. These contacts are formed as conducting areas on a printed circuit board which also carries at least some of the components of the electronic circuits of the instrument. The lower row of contacts 3 may represent notes covering about 1 /2 octaves whilst the upper row of contacts 4 may represent sharps or flats. A note selecting contact member is provided in the form of a stylus 5 having an electrically conducting tip 6 which is electrically connected to the oscillator circuit of the instrument by the flexible lead 7.

A loudspeaker is arranged behind a grille 8 in the easing 1, which also carries an on/ofi switch 9 for the instrument as well as a switch 10 for controlling the operation of a vibrato circuit for producing a tremulous effect upon any of the notes played. The batteries 26 of FIG- URE 2 for the instrument are contained within the casing 1.

An external connection such as a jack socket 11 is provided to enable the output of the instrument to be fed to a separate amplifier. A preset or manual control, which may be an edge-operated control (not visible), is provided for adjusting the tuning of the oscillator in order to bring it into tune with another musical instrument or sound reproduction.

Referring now to the circuit of FIG. 2, the section 20 comprises the note producing oscillator and includes transistors TR1 and TR2, the section 21 is the output stage comprising transistor TR3 and the section 22 is the vibrato stage formed by a phase shift oscillator which includes the transistor TR4.

In the oscillator section 20, the note selecting stylus is shown diagrammatically at 5, 6 and 7 together with some of the resistor networks 23 connected to the contacts 3 and 4. The tuning control is shown as a variable resistor 24. In the output section 21, the loudspeaker is shown at 25 with the jack socket 11 connected across it.

The on/off switch is shown at 9; and the switch 10 controls the energisation of the phase shift oscillator forming the vibrato stage 22.

When the switch 9 is closed, the audio oscillator section 20 and output amplifier section 21 are energized. Upon engaging any of the contacts 3 or 4 by the conducting tip 6 of the stylus 5, the oscillator oscillates and its output signal is fed through capacitor 27 to the base of the amplifier transistor TR3. The amplified output signal is reproduced as a note by the loudspeaker 25 connected to the collector of transistor TR3. The note reproduced will of course depend on which of the contacts 3 or 4 is contacted by the stylus tip 6.

When the switch 10 is closed the phase shift oscillator comprising the vibrato stage 22 is energized and its output signal is fed through capacitor 28 and resistor 29 to the base of the transistor TR3 where it modulates the signals produced by the oscillator section 20 in such a manner as to give a vibrato or tremulous effect to the notes as reproduced by the loudspeaker 25.

The instrument is simple and cheap to produce and may be constructed as a toy instrument for use by a child.

Whilst a particular embodiment has been described, it will be understood that various modifications may be made. Thus, instead of the movable contact being in the form of a single stylus, it may consist of a group of contact members 'which are electrically connected together and which can be fitted to the fingers of a person playing the instrument.

I claim:

1. An electronic musical instrument comprising:

an electronic oscillator for producing different musical frequencies,

means for audibly reproducing said frequencies as musical notes,

a plurality of exposed fixed electrically conducting contacts representing said different musical notes and connected to said electronic oscillator,

at least one note selecting contact member adapted to be manually manipulated and including an electrical contact portion,

a flexible electrically conducting lead connected between said electrical contact portion and said electronic oscillator,

whereby when the at least one note selecting contact member is moved in or by the hand of a person playing the instrument so that its electrical contact portion is brought into engagement with any of the fixed contacts, said electronic oscillator is activated to reproduce the musical note represented by that fixed contact through said audible reproducing means.

2. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 1, in which the exposed fixed contacts are arranged in one or more rows or banks after the fashion of the keys of a keyboard.

3. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 2, in which the exposed fixed contacts are formed as discrete conducting areas on a printed circuit board which carries at least some of the components of the electronic circuits of the instrument.

4. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 1, including a note selecting the contact member in the form of a stylus having an electrically conducting tip which is electrically connected to the flexible lead.

5. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 1, comprising an audio frequency oscillator and a loudspeaker, said oscillator having a plurality of resistors or resistor networks respectively connected to the exposed fixed contacts and arranged so that the oscillator reproduces a note through the loudspeaker when a contact is engaged by the note selecting contact member to form a connection in the oscillator effective to cause the oscillator to oscillate.

6. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 1, including a circuit which can be selectively switched into operation to give a vibrato effect to any of the notes being reproduced by the instrument.

7. A musical instrument as claimed in claim 5, in which means are provided for adjusting the tuning of the oscillator in order to bring the instrument into tune with another musical instrument or sound reproduction.

8. A portable battery'operated electronic musical instrument comprising:

a casing housing electronic circuits including an electronic oscillator for producing different musical frequencies and means for audibly reproducing said frequencies as musical notes,

a printed circuit board carrying at least some of the components of said electronic circuits disposed within said casing,

a plurality of fixed contacts connected to said electronic oscillator, said contacts representing different musical notes, being formed as conducting areas on said printed circuit board and being exposed from said casing,

a manually manipulatable stylus having an electrically conducting tip which is electrically connected to the electronic oscillator of the instrument by a flexible lead,

whereby when the stylus is moved by the hand of a person playing the instrument so that said electrically conducting tip is brought into engagement with any of the fixed contacts, said electronic oscillator is activated so as to effect audible reproduction of the note represented by the contact which is so engaged by the electrically conducting tip of the stylus.

9. An electronic musical instrument as claimed in claim 8, wherein the electronic circuitry employs transistors and comprises an audio frequency electronic oscillator and a loudspeaker, said oscillator having a plurality of resistors or resistor networks respectively connected to the fixed contacts and arranged so that the oscillator reproduces a note through the loudspeaker when a contact is engaged by the tip of the stylus so as to form a connection in the oscillator effective to cause the oscillator to oscillate, a vibrato circuit comprising a phase shift oscillator, means for selectively switching said phase shift oscillator into operation to give a vibrato eifect to any of the notes being reproduced by the instrument, and a manual control for adjusting the tuning of the oscillator.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,756,330 7/1956 Krauss et a1 84-l.26 X 2,811,887 11/1957 Anderson et al 841.0l 2,888,849 6/1959 Humphrey et al. 84-1.01

ELI LIEBERMAN, Primary Examiner S. CHATMON, JR., Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

